9 takeaways from Week 13 in MLS, as rivalry clashes separate some foes

Week 13 in MLS is in the books and, although it wasn't Rivalry Week, we still got a bunch of rivalry games that made it fun.

Here are the key things to know about what happened this week in MLS:

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1

The pendulum of weird results swung back the other way

It was pretty clear who the four worst teams in MLS coming into Week 13 were: D.C. United, Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake and Minnesota United. So of course, those were four teams who all won on Saturday night. It's a long season and everyone is going to win and lose their share of matches, but it was an unexpected slate of results, to be sure.

Particularly notable was Real Salt Lake's win, which ended a four-game winning streak for the Philadelphia Union. The Union, of course, had been on a months-long losing streak directly before that, which kind of shows how unpredictable MLS can be.

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2

The referees had a rough week

In some of the closest results of the weekend, it appeared incorrect calls or non-calls effectively decided the match.

During the big derby between the Seattle Sounders and the Portland Timbers, referee Mark Geiger didn't call two hand balls from Sounders players. One on Chad Marshall was arguably ball-to-hand, but a subsequent from Ozzie Alonso was a clearly intentional effort to stop the ball, but Geiger held his whistle and the Sounders won, 1-0.

Of course, those missed calls weren't nearly as bad as the penalty kick awarded to D.C. United vs. the Vancouver Whitecaps. Unless BC Place is haunted by invisible fouling ghosts, Jose Guillermo Ortiz took a blatant, laughable dive in the box. The Whitecaps were the better team on the day but ended up losing on a terrible call. The Whitecaps did get a (less controversial) penalty of their own in stoppage time, but missed.

Luckily for those fans who especially hate refereeing mistakes, MLS is adding video-assisted refereeing after the All-Star Game break in August.

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3

The Sounders look stumped

Clint Dempsey. Jordan Morris. Nicolas Lodeiro. Cristian Roldan. Ozzie Alonso. These are top-tier talents in MLS who should be have the Sounders scoring goals and firing on all cylinders. Instead, it's been a disjointed, confusing affair in the Sounders attack this season. They beat their rival, the Portland Timbers, in an especially tense and physical match, but it was hardly a convincing win: They only scored off a corner kick within the first five minutes, and then proceeded to struggle to generate chances in open play.

A win is a win, but the lack of dangerous possession, limited looks on goal and all around trouble moving the ball up the field is a concern. There's time to figure it out – the Sounders' turnaround and MLS Cup last season taught them that – but they can't count solely on their defense if they want to push for a playoff spot. Luckily for the Sounders, the Western Conference looks less competitive than it has in a while and it may be easier for them to sneak in.

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4

Adrian Heath got a little revenge against Orlando

There's not an explicit rivalry between Orlando City and Minnesota United – they are in different conferences and Saturday was their first time ever meeting in MLS. But there was something extra in their match: Adrian Heath. He coached Orlando into MLS as an expansion team in 2015 and was unceremoniously fired midseason last year before landing in Minnesota. You can bet he really wanted to beat his former team, and his emotions after the Loons beat the Lions on Saturday weren't hard to read.

"The players know what this means to me," Heath said afterward. "Players want to impress their old club. It’s no different for coaches. There’s been an awful lot said about my relationship with and departure from them. I wanted to win more today than I have in the past, but the most important thing was for Minnesota United to win."

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5

Can anyone catch up to Toronto FC?

If you see that Toronto FC beat the Columbus Crew by a 5-0 score line, you may think, "Oh, Toronto FC is a good team." But what about when you see that TFC did it without Jozy Altidore, Sebastian Giovinco or Michael Bradley?

Toronto FC might be the deepest MLS team the league has ever seen and that's crucial because it means TFC might not need to drop points when rotating the squad. Against the Crew, TFC didn't miss a beat as the quality of players stepping in meant coach Greg Vanney didn't need to abandon the team's style of play. Toronto FC has seen nine players score a goal this season, despite players like Altidore and Giovinco claiming such large goal hauls for themselves.

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6

The LA Galaxy look like the club of old

When the Galaxy played their first really good half of soccer all season after Jermaine Jones had to come off injured, we wondered what it might mean about Jones' future with the team. Now, we're three straight wins later and it's becoming increasingly clear how much better the team has looked without Jones. While Jones is talented, he also likes to do his own thing in the central midfield, which forces everyone to try to bend to his will or leave the Galaxy in disarray. That's one of the reasons the Galaxy struggled so much this season.

It makes sense to build a team around a player in a free role, but that player shouldn't be Jones, who is too inconsistent and, at 35, a potential liability. That player should instead be striker Giovani dos Santos, who has been on fire ever since he has been put into a freer role in Jones' absence. Dos Santos now sits at five goals in his last four games because he is free to find pockets of space to get into.

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7

Kansas City's road form is a concern

Sporting Kansas City held onto to their spot atop the Western Conference, despite a 1-0 loss in Colorado, but there is one emerging pattern to keep an eye on: SKC has been struggling to score goals on the road. They've gone 1-4-3 away from Kansas City this season, against gone 5-0-1 at home.

There's not exactly reason to panic – in MLS, if teams can get their points at home, they can usually stay high in the standings, even when they struggle on the road. But with back-to-back road losses, SKC needs to make sure that form doesn't stay with them when they come back home for their next two matches.

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8

The Chicago Fire are on a hot streak

For the first time since 2012, the Chicago Fire have won four matches in a row. That was an unthinkable scenario even just a year ago, when the Fire were one of the worst teams in the league, but their offseason re-build is paying off.

Dax McCarty has proved crucial both ways through the central midfield, Bastian Schweinsteiger has been creating scoring opportunities non-stop, and Nemanja Nikolic is now the league’s leading goal-scorer. None of those guys were on the Fire last season and, on top of that, they have fullbacks who have done a better job of getting forward to offer outlets while tracking back. This is a better team all around and it's made the Men in Red tough to beat.

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9

Mauro Diaz is back

While the Texas Derby was a bit lackluster, it did mark an important match: the return of Mauro Diaz. He didn't get enough time to make much of an impact, but he looked decent and didn't appear to be holding back. That's a boost for not just FC Dallas but the entire league.